Hudson Bell, Out of the Clouds

review by dave heaton

Hudson Bell and band really work out their Neil Young/Built to Spill-esque guitar impulses on this, his fourth LP. They let them fly and then rein them in, like a tornado, both wild and contained. This sound never fails to evoke the Wild West, a connection Bell makes explicit, starting with “Gunslingers”, which tells a straightforward Western story of bandits and sheriff, an unmarked grave filled with cash, and a lover whose heart pines. All this with that raging storm of guitars.

If this is a Western, it may be a psychedelic Western (or acid Western, the phrase film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum uses in his book on Dead Man). There’s much talk of minds exploding or imploding, especially on “Highlighter” and “Magic Balloon”, which are bridged by an especially experimental instrumental, with whining guitars that remind us of the potential alien references in “Magic Balloon”, and the Roswell mention in “Gunslingers”. A later instrumental, “Merlin”, is more melody-based, yet the band still builds and destroys. At times, these songs seem very in-the-head, but still always relate to real life, even when that relation is not spelled out

”Into the Morning” has that Western vibe, but the chase seems a pursuit for love. Elsewhere the lyrics offer themes that sound timeless but stand in opposition to the simple dichotomies associated with Westerns – “win or lose / the day is always light and dark”. The final song feels like a rejoinder to the other songs and an observation on what they’re about, that quest to “feel free” while also staking out your own ground.

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